A Functional-Cognitive Framework for Cooperation Between Functional and Cognitive Researchers in the Context of Stimulus Relations Research

Abstract

Contrary to the view that behavior analysis and cognitive psychology are two competing, mutually exclusive approaches in psychology, the functional-cognitive framework for research in psychology postulates that these approaches operate at different but related levels of explanation and therefore can interact in mutually beneficial ways. I briefly describe the framework and explore how it can be applied to research on stimulus relations.

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Acknowledgments

The preparation of this paper was made possible by Ghent University Grant BOF16/MET_V/002 to Jan De Houwer. I thank Dermot Barnes-Holmes, Sean Hughes, and Yvonne Barnes-Holmes for the many helpful discussions we had about functional-cognitive framework and for guiding me in my contacts with the behavioral community.

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